The Campaign To MoveTheMiner Statue. Information About Kent Mines

Thursday 29 July 2010 Saw the Kent Miners Statue Move from Dover to the Miners Way Trail at the entrance to Fowlmead Country Park

After 4 ½ years we are delighted to inform you all that the Kent Miners Statue has finally arrived at the new Memorial Site that is being purpose built for the Statue to sit proudly on his plinth looking down the Miners Way Trail. In this position he will now benefit all Kent Miners, which was why he was commissioned. We are also pleased to announce that we have been granted £5000.00 funding from The Coalfields Regeneration Trust for seating, information boards and the plinth. These will be installed at the site as soon as we recieve this funding.

Gary Cox, chairman of the Move The Miner Committee explains the significance of the statue to Kent's mining community.

The Miners' Statue was commissioned by the Central Electricity Board, and was moved from its original site outside Richborough power station when the plant was decommissioned.

Each of Kent's mining communities had their suggestions for a new home for the statue, and eventually it was re-sited outside the National Coal Board's office in Dover, which is where it has remained ever since.

The statue is seen as a very important symbol of the hard work and sacrifices made by Kent's miners, and a group was formed to move the statue once more, to a more fitting setting.

The new site for the statue is on the Miners' Way - a trail of almost 30 miles which links all the former Kent coal mines, at the entrance to Fowlmead Country Park, the former spoil tip for nearby Betteshanger Colliery. The pit, the last of Kent's mines to close, ceased production in 1989.

It is hoped the statue will be in its new home before the second Miners' Festival which is to be held at Fowlmead on August bank holiday on 29 and 30 August, 2010.

We are confident that work will start on the new site in January and are looking forward to the unveiling. We still need a further £10.000 to fund stage 3. This will include the cost of disabled parking & seating, lighting & security, educational information boards & the memorial plinth and engraving. Any level of donations would be greatly appreciated. The moving of the Statue will take place but in securing this final funding will allow the move to take place sooner rather than later.

Planning has now been granted and the Statue will be on the move very soon. There is still much work to do and more funds to raise. More to come on statue very soon.

The Story of the Kent Miner is not finished by any means and it is our intentions to keep the memories of our Miners, their families, their communities and their Heritage in the public arena for ever.

The Miner’s Statue was commissioned by the Central Electricity Board, the sculpture was Mr. H.R. Philips and it was originally bound for FerryBridge power station in Yorkshire. However it was later decided to site the statue outside Richborough power station to commend the Miner’s of Kent for recognition of all their hard work and toil in keeping the Power Station working and producing electricity all year round.

The MoveTheMiner Campaign Committee Members are from a cross section of the Kent Mining Communities and the Committee was set up to move the Kent Miners Statue.

We now have permission to move the Statue from its present position on Dover seafront onto The Miners Way Trail at the entrance to Fowlmead Country Park (the former spoil tip of Betteshanger Colliery) situated on the A258 near Deal. The statue will be sited on the Sandwich side (the sea side) of the A258 road, subject to planning permission being granted.

We are pleased with the plans for the new site that show provision for disabled parking and access, seating and illumination at night. The Statue will attract many visitors to the site, where information will be on display, to encourage people to venture out into our countryside villages and towns, and take in our mining heritage, parks and places of interest.

Many people, including youngsters, are not aware that there were any coal mines in Kent and that is a situation we must address and not allow to continue. The History of the Kent Miner is not finished.

It is so important to keep the memories of our miners and mining history alive; we owe it to our fathers and grandfathers who worked and died in our Kent collieries and their children and grandchildren who must never forget how the miners and their families played their very important parts in shaping the history of the towns and villages of east Kent.